For the first time, a European Women’s Championship will take place in five countries in 2026. As the European Handball Federation (EHF) announced on Friday, the tournament will be held from December 3rd to 20th in Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey. The previous maximum number of hosts was three nations. This year’s European Championships will be hosted by Austria, Hungary and Switzerland from November 28th to December 15th.
According to the statement, the EHF has decided to combine the individual applications from the Czech Republic/Poland, Romania/Slovakia and Turkey in order to “bring top women’s handball to as many European markets as possible”. Preliminary rounds take place in each of the five nations, and the main rounds then take place in Romania and Poland. The venue for the finals will be Katowice, Poland.
Russia was originally scheduled to be the host nation for the 2026 European Championship. Because of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the EHF withdrew the tournament from the Russian Federation.
